


16M Seeking Coven

by caswell



Category: Be More Chill - Iconis/Tracz
Genre: ABANDONED probably, Alternate Universe - Modern with Magic, Craigslist, M/M, Mutual Pining, Pining, Witchcraft, this is already the most research intensive thing i've ever written. and im a witch
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-11
Updated: 2018-05-11
Packaged: 2019-05-05 01:46:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,834
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14606469
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/caswell/pseuds/caswell
Summary: Jeremy joins a coven of witches using Craigslist. It's a lot safer than it seems.(Or:  How Michael and Jeremy discover love, safety, and home.)





	16M Seeking Coven

**Author's Note:**

> IT'S HERE, FINALLY, another longfic, I haven't published one since February. I got super into witchcraft for coping so... Why Not Make It Boyfs  
> If anyone notices any mistakes in here please let me know! I had to be lenient on a few things for plot reasons (and because witchcraft is actually surprisingly flexible), but like, I don't know everything about witchcraft so y'know.  
> Enjoy the fic! And please bear with me with the worldbuilding :") Thanks for clicking!!
> 
> UPDATE: I left the BMC fandom since I sorta hate it, so now this is gonna be a Real Novel with My Own Characters, see y'all later

**16M Seeking Coven - m4mw**

Heya, my name is Jeremy and I’m looking for a coven? Of witches?

I got into witchcraft a few weeks ago but it’s not as fun on my own, I need more friends who practice it. That would probably be good.

One rule: you gotta be cool with me being Jewish. Not everybody can be Pagan or Wiccan, Karen.

My email is jeremiah.c.heere@gmail.com, so please contact me if you’re interested!

 

  * do NOT contact me with unsolicited services or offers



 

**GAHM just looking for pals - m4mw**

what’s UP new jersey, my best friend moved away and since I’m the most fucking desperate guy on earth or something I decided to use craigslist to find a new one, which is absolutely terrible but hey, everyone else at my school sucks so why not.

I’m into music (bob marley, tigers jaw, phil collins, all sortsa shit), video games (persona, pokemon, apocalypse of the damned, etc), witchcraft, and leftism, mostly. ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯

Hmu at bizarrelovetriangle42069@gmail.com. Peace

 

  * do NOT contact me with unsolicited services or offers



 

**Looking for a witchy mentor! - w4mw**

Hello! I'm a baby witch (I just started practicing this summer!) and I'm looking for someone more experienced to sort of show me the ropes more! I specialize in garden & art witchcraft and I love divination! Please contact me at sugarbrookie@gmail.com. I'm excited to hear from people!

 

  * do NOT contact me with unsolicited services or offers



 

**Witch 4 Pay - Divination, etc.**

Heya, my name is Jenna and I practice tech and sand witchcraft. I'm looking to make money off of it- I can do tarot readings or shufflemancies, make potions and spells for you, et cetera et cetera. Send all business inquiries to jrolan.witchcraft@outlook.com. Ciao!

 

  * do NOT contact me with unsolicited services or offers



 

**Prove my asshole friends wrong with witchcraft - m4mw**

Hey my name's Rich and my friends are dickbags who make fun of me for practicing witchcraft, you really cant trust popular people for shit. someone cool and witchy make friends with me so i can prove them wrong. Reward: being my friend. My email is the.richard.goranski@gmail.com so shoot me an email if you're interested.

 

  * do NOT contact me with unsolicited services or offers



 

**Looking for witch friends - m4mw**

Hey y'all, I'm a man of many interests, a jack of all trades, if you will. I have my sports teams (LaX, frisbee golf, yknow) and my theatre friends and shit but I don't have any witch friends, and I hate having an interest that I can't talk to people about. So shoot me an email if you're a teen witch! I'm waiting anxiously. j.dillinger@outlook.com

 

  * do NOT contact me with unsolicited services or offers



 

**HELLO NJ WITCHES!! - w4mw**

Hello! My name is Christine Canigula and I'm lookin to join a coven or a circle or something. I just moved here from NYC (too expensive!) and I had to leave my witch friends ): Please please contact me at chrissy.canigula@gmail.com if you're open to welcoming me into your group!

 

  * do NOT contact me with unsolicited services or offers



  


**Chloe Valentine** (chloe.a.v@gmail.com)

To: jeremiah.c.heere@gmail.com, bizarrelovetriangle42069@gmail.com, sugarbrookie@gmail.com, jrolan.witchcraft@outlook.com, the.richard.goranski@gmail.com, j.dillinger@outlook.com, chrissy.canigula@gmail.com

Subject: Starting a Coven

Hey everyone,

My name is Chloe Valentine, and I was born into a family of witches. I've grown tired of being in a coven full of old ass 50 year olds, so my parents are allowing me to quit and become the High Priestess of my own coven.

This is where you come in. I found you all on Craigslist (obviously) and figured hey, why not risk my life and invite some internet randos to my house (I'll send a Google Calendar invitation with the address later). If you're interested in doing witch stuff with me, show up at the address at 3:00 PM on September 20.

Bring your grimoire/Book of Shadows and whatever resources you think would be useful (beach sand from Jenna, probably, and some herbs from Brooke. The rest of you, think of stuff on your own.)

See you then,

Chloe

 

In the second week of August, a month before the start of his junior year, Jeremy hit a wall.

It's sort of funny, really, since he _shouldn't_ have. He wasn't in school, given that it was the summer, so grades and homework weren't pressuring him. It had been two years since his mother left, and he never liked her much anyway, so that wasn't the issue. Maybe depressive episodes just happen for no reason. Of course, there's always the fact, always hanging over his head like a rain cloud in a cartoon, that he doesn't really have friends. It could just be the loneliness.

Whatever the reason, Jeremy was hit _hard._ He didn't have the energy to do chores, there was no inspiration for writing or drawing (which he's not that good at anyway, in his own opinion), and he barely socialized with the friends he _did_ have, mostly strangers on the internet that he would Skype with once in a while. He was miserable, and he needed to change.

But he wasn't in therapy, and he couldn't really talk to his dad, given that he was also a depressed mess. So where the hell else was he supposed to go but everybody's least favorite blue hellsite?

 

[ dapeachymode ](http://dapeachymode.tumblr.com/)

i’m gonna be real with you all, like… i’m doing absolutely terribly w my depression and shit and i have literally no idea what to do, if anyone has gone thru this too can you _please_ tell me what helped or just. i dont know. give me advice or encouragement or something

_#jeremy speaks #this is so stupid im kms_

 

He doesn't really expect an answer, since his measly 200 followers rarely interact with him. Still, he refreshes the page a few times over the next twenty minutes, idly hoping that someone, _anyone_ could help him.

And somebody does. Eighteen minutes after Jeremy makes his text post, a blue square labelled with the number one pops up above the envelope symbol at the top of the screen. Jeremy blinks in surprise, and a quick wave of anxiety washes over him; he has to remind himself that this is probably a response to his post, not anon hate or a friend telling him they're leaving him.

Instead, what's in his inbox is this:

 

Anonymous said:

it's not as good as like, therapy or meds or anything but when i was in your position, i looked into witchcraft! spells and sigils and stuff. it might sound stupid, but it helped me feel like i have control of my life.

 

Hm. Jeremy hadn't really considered that. He's seen modern witches around on the internet, reading their tarot cards and casting their spells, but he hadn't thought of it as a possibility for himself. Aren't witches Wiccan? He doesn't want to change religions; he's perfectly comfortable in (and proud of) his Judaism. Thoughtfully, he types out a response:

 

oh that sounds interesting. I thought that was sort of a religious thing though? Like wicca or smth? and y'all know im jewish so. i dunno. Could be wrong though.

 

The anonymous reply comes through soon enough; after he finishes the episode of Monster Factory he was watching, Jeremy tabs back to Tumblr and sees that his inbox is occupied again.

 

Anonymous said:

oh no not at all! i'm pagan, and ive seen some jewish witches around. i wouldnt ask you to turn your back on your religion!

 

Jeremy breathes a sigh of relief. Truth be told, that stuff does sound pretty neat. It's not that he completely believes in magic, because when you take a step back and _really_ look at it, it's bogus as hell, but hey, why not? It couldn't hurt, probably. ...Right? Yeah, probably not.

And he really does need to get his life under control. He can’t control _anything_ \- not his social status, not his _relationship_ status, not his economic class, not the way he looks- he can’t change any of it. Maybe if he could get control over one thing, just one tiny thing, he would feel better. And if not, well, no harm done.

 

oh, alright then! i’ll do some research on it. it sounds pretty cool. thanks for the suggestion!

 

So that's how Jeremy finds himself staying up ‘til one in the morning, researching about modern witchcraft with a passion that he rarely has anymore. As it turns out, there's a shit ton of types of witchcraft; he's a little bewildered at the long, verbose text posts containing lists of them all: elemental, kitchen, pop culture, cosmic… good Lord. There's one thing he's drawn to, though- fire witchcraft.

Jeremy has always been fascinated by fire. It can tear things down, just absolutely ruin them, but it can also keep you warm. There's lots of work with candles in fire witchcraft, a controlled flame that works for him instead of against him. It all comes back to control.

It costs a bit to buy all the spices and candles and suchlike that are common in fire spells, but it's just barely within his budget; in a couple weeks, Jeremy's  procured a decent collection of witchy materials. His father, of course, was a little confused as to why he was suddenly so obsessed with going to the Candle Shoppe at Menlo Park Mall, but at least he didn't ask any intrusive questions- even though he's an accepting guy, Jeremy would rather not tell him.

The first thing he does with his newfound hobby (way of life?) is get into sigil work. Much to his relief, it's actually pretty simple to make sigils- make a statement, cross out repeated letters, take the basic shapes of the letters and make a symbol. He's not good at many things- at least, he doesn't think he is- but he can do that, at least.

_I MAKE NEW FRIENDS_

_I MAKE NW FRDS_

Is his first [ sigil ](https://imgur.com/UOPd0Ca). Under the cover of night, in his small kitchen, Jeremy lights a candle- Cranberry Chutney, in a fitting red color- and touches the small slip of paper to the flame. The orange light catches it and unfurls itself up into the air, devouring the paper and turning the edges black and cracked. Jeremy hisses in pain and drops the paper to the countertop as the flame brushes the tips of his fingers. It curls on itself, turning to ash that scatters softly on the marble, and within seconds it's reduced to a tiny pile of blackness; the embers soon blink out like stars being consumed by the void.

Jeremy looks down at the ashes and blinks. He just did that. He used fire to get what he wants, and actually tried to make some progress in life and do something good for himself. That's more than he's done in a long time.

After this, though, he has to play the waiting game. He's well aware, of course, that the effects of witchcraft aren't automatic, if they manifest at all. So Jeremy goes back downstairs to his bedroom, turns off the light, and tries to fall asleep.

It’s miraculous, actually, how soon the effects of the sigil appear. It’s about 12 in the morning the next night that the new friend appears to Jeremy. He’s just passed a level in a flash game on Nitrome, an attempt to cheer himself up with nostalgia, when he decides to check Tumblr again, just in  case something decent has broken through the monotony of memes and fandoms he doesn’t understand on his dashboard. Lo and behold, there’s a message in his inbox.

 

[ hallowedsuns ](http://hallowedsuns.tumblr.com/) said:

Hey! I’m the anon from before that told you about getting into witchcraft. I didn’t come off anon cuz I was too shy and I think you’re really cool. But I know we’re mutuals so if you wanna talk sometime we totally should!

 

Well, that’s something. Jeremy’s completely taken aback- of course he is, because this is the first time anyone has ever called him anything in the realm of ‘really cool’, except maybe his dad. After sitting there for a few seconds, still floored, he shakes himself out of it and types a response.

 

WHAT that’s wild, i’m not cool at all lol. We can totally talk, I’m not that great at it though. How was your day??

 

Maybe not the smoothest response, but hey, he’ll roll with it. This person already has a high opinion of him, one stiff reply isn’t going to change that. Hopefully. Maybe.

And then Jeremy realizes something: he’s making a new friend, just like he’d asked for the night before. Sure, it could just be a coincidence, but isn’t it more fun to believe in these sorts of things? If he was a skeptic, he would never be entertained. A grin splits his face at the thought of it.

And that’s how it was for a few weeks: when he got bored or overly sad (which was most of the time), he would take a break and do witchcraft of some sort- charge a sigil, make a protection sachet, do a tarot reading, whatever, it didn’t matter. It kept his mind off the monotony, if only for a second. ...That is, until he started to get lonely.

Sure, his new witch friend (who turned out to be named Bayani) was a nice companion, but they weren’t that close, and he lived… certainly nowhere around New Jersey. Minnesota, actually. And Jeremy didn’t feel comfortable enough to tell his, what, two? real life friends, because, truth be told, he didn’t trust them much to not make fun of him. He wasn’t out as bi to them, either.

So, he did what any other person in his position would do: he turned to Craigslist. Jeremy’s fully aware of stranger danger, but he doesn’t value his life all that much, and there’s probably only a small chance he’d get kidnapped and murdered and left in a ditch somewhere for the rats to eat if the murderer didn’t happen to be a cannibal, which he _definitely_ only worried about for five minutes and not any longer.

And that’s where he finds himself typing out a post, short and to the point: _16M seeking coven._

 

Chloe’s house is _enormous._ Jeremy’s not sure what he expected, given that she lives in Essex Falls, but somehow in his mind he pictured a little shack in the woods, maybe by a swamp, maybe swarming with cats. Quietly, he thanks his Lyft driver and exits the vehicle, a black, meticulously cared for Toyota Camry that he was certain he would mess up in some way. As he raises his eyes, Jeremy notices a girl around his age standing by the door of the house. “Chloe?” he calls hesitantly. “Is that you?”

The girl, beautiful with her curled hair and short skirt, walks down the driveway towards Jeremy, a smile in her piercing eyes. “This is she,” she says, and comes to a halt in front of him, holding her hand out for him to shake. “Nice to meet you.”

Jeremy pauses and stares down at the outstretched hand for a moment, a little bit bewildered. He’s never touched a girl as pretty as her. In fact, Chloe might just be the most beautiful girl he’s ever seen. It’s frazzling. When Chloe wiggles her fingers, beckoning, Jeremy snaps out of it and shakes her hand, looking bashfully back up at her. “Nice to meet you too,” he says. “I’m Jeremy.”

“Yeah, I know,” Chloe says, dropping Jeremy’s hand. “Everyone else is already here, in the basement. C’mon, I’ve got snacks.” She walks with Jeremy back to the front door, and, as they step in, an orange cat leaves its spot by the window and pads over to Chloe, winding itself between her legs and making her step over it with mild annoyance. “Sorry, that’s Milo,” she says. “He’s my familiar, actually.”

“You’re… a witch with a cat that’s your familiar,” Jeremy echoes. “Right. Cool. Very… witchy.”

Chloe raises one eyebrow. “I mean, kinda, yeah. On account of me being a witch.”

Jeremy chuckles sheepishly. The things he says aren’t very smart sometimes. Well, a lot of the time. Almost always, actually. “Right, right. Uh…”

“Anyway, over there are the bathroom and the kitchen,” Chloe interrupts, pointing down a long, narrow hall. Gesturing toward the stairs by the door, she adds, “Up there are the bedrooms, which you won’t be in unless you cast a love spell or two, and the basement is over here.” She leads Jeremy to another staircase going downstairs into a warm, decidedly un-basement-like basement.

Sitting in a vaguely circular shape on the floor are six other people, all around their age, by no small miracle. “Oh, huh, we all came,” Jeremy notes as he steps onto the landing, peering anxiously at the other teens. “I almost didn’t expect that.”

“Nobody can resist the Valentine charm,” Chloe says smugly. “Now go on, sit down. I want everyone to introduce themselves.”

Jeremy takes a seat next to a short, slightly chubby Asian girl, who smiles at him with a wide grin. Oh, shit, she’s cute. She’s _very_ cute. Jeremy’s not sure how to handle that right now. Chloe looks expectantly at him, though, so he doesn’t have time to think about it. “Oh! Uh, I’m Jeremy,” he says, voice a little shaky. He’s not used to seven whole people paying attention to him. “I do… fire… witchcraft. And stuff.” A few feet away, a muscular boy with a red streak in his hair winces.

The girl next to Jeremy pipes up with, “And I’m Christine! I’m an energy witch. And an actress, and a lesbian, but mostly an actress. But I do like witchcraft.”

Well, that crush lasted all of five seconds. Whatever. Onto greener pastures.

“I’m Rich,” the pyrophobe says, “water witch, so watch it, Jeremy, or I’ll put you out.” He leans forward and peers over at Jeremy. Jeremy wriggles nervously.

To Rich’s right, a tall, student athlete-looking boy says, “And I’m Jake. Jakey D to my friends. I do earth shit. Y’know, crystals and stuff. Pleased to meetcha.” He winks at Chloe, who looks flatly back down at him from where she leans against the wall, arms crossed. “...Right.”

“Hi, uh, Brooke here,” says the girl on Jake’s other side- pretty, though not as pretty as Chloe. “I love tarot and stuff. And herbs. I do a lot with herbs. And art witchcraft, see?” She grabs a notebook from where it’s placed behind her and opens it, revealing a beautifully illustrated Book of Shadows, complete with color.

“Brooke, that is _amazing,”_ Chloe says, striding over so she can get a closer look. “Would you consider illustrating the coven’s grimoire?”

Brooke grins, elated, and closes the notebook. “Oh, Chloe, I’d love to!” She giggles, flustered, as she puts the notebook back where she’d had it stowed away before. “Thank you.”

“Well, anyway,” says the (quite large) girl sitting next to Brooke, “I’m Jenna, I’m a witch for pay, like… divinations and stuff, and I guess I’m here even though I wasn’t looking for other witches.” After a second, she adds softly, “Not that I don’t appreciate the friendship.” It seems like there’s something else she’s not saying, but Jeremy doesn’t pry; he barely knows her.

And then there’s a boy that Jeremy barely noticed at first. Red hoodie, headphones around his neck, thick, dark hair. Handsome. How did he not notice him? “The name’s Michael,” the boy says, and flashes a peace sign to… nobody in particular. “Tech and music witch, annoying leftist, gay as hell, et cetera, et cetera.”

Before anyone can say anything else, Chloe clasps her hands together and says, “Well! Now that everyone knows each other and is bestest friends foreverests, get out your stuff. There’s a supply cabinet over there-” she gestures with her thumb to a cabinet in the corner of the room- “and people can borrow from it whenever they need to. So grab your shit and put it in, folks.”

Jeremy grabs the bag he’s brought, containing a few small candles and one large one, and goes over to the cabinet, taking the candles out one by one as he places them on a shelf. Soon, they’re joined by crystals, a deck of tarot cards, some herbs, storm water, beach sand, and incense, along with containers of primer in various skin tones. “What’s the makeup for?” Jeremy asks, turning to Chloe as she sets them inside the cabinet.

“Charging sigils,” Chloe explains. “You draw the sigil in makeup and rub it into your skin. I’m a cosmetic witch, didn’t I tell you?”

“Uh… I guess not,” Jeremy says with a shrug. “Neat.”

Chloe smiles, still oddly intimidating but friendly nonetheless. “Isn’t it?”

Jeremy doesn’t have time to answer; he’s interrupted by Brooke asking, “So, like… are we gonna have an initiation and levels of membership a lot? Because I read up on it and I don’t really want to be naked in a forest. It sounds scary, and dirty.”

Chloe grimaces. “Yeah, uh, no, we won’t be doing that,” she says. “Look, like I mentioned- old people covens are super boring. This way we can just be chill, y’know? I don’t really go for all that tradition crap.”

Brooke sighs in relief. “Oh, thank God. It sounds like a good way to get a UTI or something.”

“You’re so paranoid,” Rich says. “The only way you’re gonna get a UTI like that is if you have bareback sex in a pond.”

“Stop! Being nasty!” Christine squawks, and slaps Rich in the shoulder. “That’s terrible.”

Rich just shrugs her off.

 _“Anyway,”_ Chloe says, cutting the two of them off, “grimoire time. I hope your Books of Shadows are quality, because we’re going to put them all together.We’ve got a wide variety of witches here, so hopefully we’ll be able to get a decent one started.”

Good Lord, covens take a long time to set up. It takes another half hour to copy down everyone’s information: crystal associations from Jake, short descriptions of each Tarot arcana by Brooke, a handful of fire and water spells from Jeremy and Rich respectively, energy color associations from Christine, original sigils from Michael, divination tips from Jenna, and love spells from Chloe. It’s not a half bad grimoire.

The meeting does turn out to be pretty fun, though. There are snacks, as promised, and Jeremy finds himself gravitating towards Michael, sitting next to him on a couch in the oddly luxurious basement while they munch on pretzels. The rest of them have split up as well: Christine and Jenna are talking about how their days are going (Christine is quite polite and must have asked her), Rich and Jake are talking about how they’ve seen each other at lacrosse games (their schools, as it turns out, are rivals), and Brooke and Chloe are talking about some app game (“Eli is definitely the best! Have you _heard_ her voice?” “It’s nothing on Umi’s, Brooke. Give it up.”)

“So… how did you get into witchcraft?” Jeremy asks awkwardly. He’s never been fantastic at socializing, which explains why he barely has any friends. (Well, now he’s got seven new ones, but that’s beside the point.)

“Actually, it’s kind of a funny story,” Michael says. “My favorite video game series has this whole tarot motif going on, right? Which got me really interested in it. I got my first deck, like, a week after I finished the first game I played.”

Jeremy thinks on that for a second. “No way. You’re not talking about Persona, are you?”

Michael’s eyes open wide, and he nods vigorously. “I am! Oh, my God, I’ve never actually met someone else who likes it… in real life, anyway. Which one is your favorite?”

“Persona Four, yours?”

“Oh, I prefer Persona Three a lot. The music is funkier, and you _know_ a guy’s gotta have those fresh tunes,” Michael answers. The grin he wears stays on his face as he continues with the barrage of questions: “Who are your favorite characters?”

“I like Fuuka and the Persona Four protagonist,” Jeremy says. “They’re cute. I admire them. What about you?”

“Kanji and Koromaru,” Michael says. “My moms are cat people, but I _really_ like dogs. They won’t let me get one, though.”

Jeremy pats Michael on the back. “Yeah, I know how it is. I love cats, but my dad’s allergic. I’ve got a dog, though, named Benji.”

“Benji, huh?” Michael raises his eyebrows, unimpressed. “Very creative name for a dog.”

“Hey, my dad’s the one who named him,” Jeremy protests, and nudges Michael in the arm with one elbow. He’s about to say something else- though he’s not honestly sure what- but before he can, the alarm on his phone goes off, an annoying tune simply titled “Jungle” by whoever composed it. Very original. “Shit, I should call my Lyft,” he says. “I’ve gotta be home soon, I’ve got a test to study for.” Except he probably won’t study for the test. What he’s _probably_ going to do is lay on his bed, refresh Twitter and Tumblr intermittently, and when he’s not doing that, stare up at the ceiling and contemplate why he’s still around. Life still sucks, witchcraft or not.

Michael shakes his head. “Hey, I can give you a ride, if you want,” he says. “I’ve got sort of a lame car, but it works.”

Jeremy blinks in surprise. “What, you’d actually do that for me?” He’s not really used to kindness from near strangers- although, Michael probably counts as a friend now, right? Right.

“Yeah, crabsolutely, dude,” Michael says, and shrugs. “It’s the least I can do. I get to pick the music, though.”

“That’s fine by me,” Jeremy says, grinning.

 

Michael’s music is depressing as hell.

“This music is depressing as hell,” Jeremy says, glancing at Michael out of the corner of his eye as he sits in the passenger seat. “Who’s this by?”

Michael gestures to the small screen on the dashboard, where the title and artist of the song are listed. “Julien Baker,” he answers, not taking his eyes off the road. “Great singer, at least. Although I get why you’d think she’s a little sad.”

Somewhere in the back of his head, Jeremy wonders why Michael listens to music like this, deep and dark, when he seems to be a pretty upbeat guy. That’s not any of his business, though. He’s just some guy he just met, except, well, he feels happy around him. It’s been a long while since he’s clicked like this with someone; usually it’s less natural, only talking to each other because they’re seated next to each other in English class or assigned as lab partners in bio. But he’s not going to say any of that out loud.

As the GPS directs them closer and closer to Jeremy’s house, all the way over in Metuchen, Michael asks, “Oh, did you want my number or anything? It’d probably be good to keep in touch, and I can’t stand emails. Don’t know why I didn’t just leave my  number on that ad. Guess I didn’t wanna see unsolicited dick pics, although technically, you could send those through email, too.”

It takes Jeremy a couple seconds to process the question through the dick talk, but eventually he says, “Oh! Yeah, sure, just let me open my messenger app…”

“Alright, gotcha. Uh, it’s 600-5389,” Michael says, and glances at Jeremy as he types it in. “Just say it’s you in the text.”

Jeremy types out a quick text- _suh dude it’s ya boy jeremy-_ and sends it, oddly delighted by the sound of Michael’s text tone going off from where it’s stashed in the cupholders. Small wonders: hearing physical proof of your existence. “Alright, done,” he says, though it’s obvious that he has. Just for posterity.

“Thanks, man,” Michael says, though his words are overlapped by Siri telling him to take a left onto Jeremy’s street. “Oh, hey, we’re almost here. Hopefully you’ve got enough time to study and stuff.”

“Yeah, yeah, I'll be fine,” Jeremy says, still knowing that he's probably gonna fail that test. “My house is right up there, so, um…”

Michael nods and pulls over to the side of the road beside a small white house. Internally, Jeremy curses himself for letting Michael see it, but at least it isn't Chloe. “See you soon, right?” Michael asks, smile ever-present.

“Yeah! Yeah, see you,” Jeremy says, and flashes him a wobbly smile. He gets out of the car, closing the door behind him with a thunk, and looks up into the sunny autumn day. This is going to be the start of something great.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! I love you!!  
> Also I swear on my life the rest of the fic isn't gonna be as clunky as this ;;;; worldbuilding is hard.  
> As always, my tumblr is africabytoto1982 (prev. deadgirlwalking), so hit me up if you wanna talk!  
> And thanks to tumblr user crosslesbian for letting me use her cat Milo in the story :3c


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